Johnson closes in on 6th NASCAR title

AVONDALE, AZ - NOVEMBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe&apos;s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, leads a group of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 11, 2012 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCAR)

AVONDALE, AZ - NOVEMBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, leads a group of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 11, 2012 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The El Cajon native didn’t clinch his sixth NASCAR championship with a third-place finish in the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

But he came very, very close.

With friendly rival Matt Kenseth having a terrible day with a 23rd-place finish in the season’s penultimate race, Johnson widened his point lead over Kenseth to 28 points.

Even if Kenseth leads the most laps en route to winning the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday, Johnson wins his sixth title with a finish of 23rd or better.

Note of warning here: Johnson finished 32nd and 36th in his last two races on the 1.5-mile South Florida oval.

But almost no one, including Kenseth, expects Johnson to blow the championship.

“We’ve had a great season,” said Kenseth, who finished more than a lap off the winning pace of Kevin Harvick, who won his second straight November race on the one-mile PIR oval.

“This is the best season of my career,” Kenseth continued. “We had hoped to go to Florida and race for the title on performance. That’s not the way it turned out.”

“I’m in the position I want to be in . . . if we run how we should, we’ll take care of business,” said Johnson, who would be one title short of the sport’s legends – Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt – with a sixth championship in a span of eight seasons.

Johnson, 38, then offered a disclaimer.

“Everyone is so eager to predict the champion,” said Johnson. “You have to play the game. I think there are more variables in our sport than another other sport out there . . . . 43 teams, thousands of laps, pit stops. This is no lay-up at all.”

Sunday’s race being a prime example.

Twice during the 312 laps, contact initiated by a rival threatened to send Johnson into a wall.

He almost didn’t make it through the first lap.

Starting from the pole, Johnson had trouble getting his Chevy to turn through the flat turns at the west end of the track. As the pack headed toward the dogleg in the middle of the backstretch, Johnson found himself in the middle of a dangerous three-abreast sandwich.

Joey Logano, who jumped inside when Johnson went wide in the first turns, clipped Johnson’s right rear fender sending Johnson sliding sideways before he got the car headed back in the right direction.

“The opening lap was crazy,” said Johnson. “But that one didn’t worry me too much, I had enough room.”

That wasn’t the case 163 laps later when Johnson was running on the outside in another three-wide situation between the third and fourth turns. This time Carl Edwards’ Ford came up on Johnson, pushing him toward the outside wall.

“I was concerned I lost it,” said Johnson. “I saved the car two times and each time the nose pointed itself back toward the wall. I was concerned I lost it. What saved me were the instincts I learned in off-road racing.”